Timeline for Classic Pebbles ready to enter beta

The Pebble Time Kickstarter project brought more than just color, voice, and ergonomic design to our family of smartwatches. The campaign also introduced a focused and delightful new operating system with Pebble Firmware 3.0. Featuring the timeline interface to organize your past, present, and future, 3.0 is all about delivering the best ways to get things done from your wrist.

And yet they do nothing that you can’t already do with the smart phone in your pocket. In fact, none of them currently on the market can do anything without a smart phone to pair it with. That means they are redundant devices still looking for a way to make themselves useful, and failing miserably outside of those willing to sink the hundreds of dollars into a device they already have in their pocket or purse to begin with. Just because someone is lazy and don’t want to take your phone out of your pocket or purse doesn’t make it a useful device.

Try taking your phone out of your pocket when you’re driving. Or having your phone wake you at 4AM without waking your spouse. Or try skipping tracks when you’re running on a treadmill without dropping your phone. Try to read a text message without disrupting a meeting. These are useful functions, and to me, they justify the cost – particularly in the case of the pebble.

I’ve always worn a watch, so I see the addition of these functions to a device I’ve used forever as a major improvement.

Try taking your phone out of your pocket when you’re driving [/q] If you have to use your phone while driving you could speak to it. Otherwise you are being a risk on the road reading something on your watch.

Or having your phone wake you at 4AM without waking your spouse.

Good one! Except digital watches have been able to do that for 40 years.

Or try skipping tracks when you’re running on a treadmill without dropping your phone.

My phone isn’t anywhere near where I am training. I just press a button on my mp3 player that hangs around my neck. I can do that in the dark because I can feel the buttons.

Try to read a text message without disrupting a meeting.

Why? If the message is useful for the meeting I think nobody will complain when you read it on your phone. If the message is not useful for the meeting why are you reading it during the meeting? If you have time during the meeting why is your meeting too long? Shouldn’t you fix your meeting?

I think it comes down to:

[q]These are fun functions, and to me, they justify the cost – particularly in the case of the pebble.

f you have to use your phone while driving you could speak to it. Otherwise you are being a risk on the road reading something on your watch. [/q] Speaking to a phone in your pants pocket doesn’t work. Speaking to a watch on my wrist does.

Good one! Except digital watches have been able to do that for 40 years.

This shows you have no idea what a smartwatch is. Name a digital watch that vibrates with an alarm

My phone isn’t anywhere near where I am training. I just press a button on my mp3 player that hangs around my neck. I can do that in the dark because I can feel the buttons.

Yeah? Which MP3 players stream music? Which MP3 players with 100GB+ storage can you wear around your neck?

[q]Why? If the message is useful for the meeting I think nobody will complain when you read it on your phone. If the message is not useful for the meeting why are you reading it during the meeting? If you have time during the meeting why is your meeting too long? Shouldn’t you fix your meeting?

Oh brother. You’re reaching. When everyone at a meeting checks messages on their phone, it is disruptive. I guess you’ve not been to many meetings?

Why do they need to stream? Why do you need more than 1000 albums on your device? Otherwise devices are available from $50. [/q]

I like having all of my music with me. I don’t have to spend time managing it. I can also (using the apple watch) use Siri to change what I’m listening to without so much as touching a button. Streaming allows me to listen to new and different music from what I own, all of which I find enriching. My smart watches help enable that, and thus are far more useful than a regular watch.

[q]I could do without the childish remarks you strengthen your comments with.

So your meetings are like most meetings; mostly useless for most of the people there. And instead of fixing that you all try to be a little bit productive by reading messages.

Okay, sorry, I agree that was childish. It was early in the morning and I was cranky.

My meetings are productive, but I (and others) have responsibilities beyond the scope of any one meeting, and the ability to manage those responsibilities without compromising the efficiency of the meeting I’m in makes me (and others) more productive.